Fiona was my older sister. In May 2014 she died from cancer. Before she died, she recorded with me her own Desert Island Discs as a testimony to her life and as a gift to her daughters, her husband and the rest of our family. I have told the story of that recording in the Guardian Weekend magazine and in a radio programme that will be broadcast on Wednesday 30th December 2015 at 11 am on BBC Radio 4. It's called How My Sister Said Goodbye.

Through Fiona, we all learned so much about how best to deal with serious illness and we hope that some of what Fiona had to say people will find useful. Throughout Fiona’s professional life she was intimately concerned with ensuring that patients were treated with respect, that their autonomy and right to control their own destiny was protected. She passionately believed that people should be allowed to die with dignity and that they should be given the highest quality palliative care with the patient at its heart. It's for this reason that we - Fiona’s family - have chosen to raise funds for Marie Curie. We hope this will be a tribute to the memory of the sister, mother, daughter, wife and friend we all loved and miss so much. 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.